At this point, it feels like the U.S. is entering its Fall of Rome era. With the way Donald Trump’s cabinet picks are going, we wouldn’t be all that surprised if he pulled a Caligula and appointed a horse as head of the newly created Department of Oats. Although, as our very own Orange Juicius Caesar prepares to enter office and act like an emperor once again, it’s important to remember: the U.S. and Ancient Rome never existed at the same time.
That might sound like it goes without saying, but alas it seems our dear Mr. President may need a periodic reminder of this fact that most elementary school kids could tell you. Not that we need to dig through the archives when he gives us fresh material on every day that ends in a Y, but one of Trump’s most egregious goofs is recircling online this week as people remembered that, yes, the twice-elected leader of the nation did once announce that the United States has been around since the early days of the first millennium.
Did Donald Trump really claim that the U.S. and Italy have been friends since Ancient Rome?
Trump’s horrendously unhistorical hiccup has returned to the conversation thanks to a tweet going viral which focused on the hilarious reaction from the translator sitting behind him when he made his bold claim. “Trump said that the United States and Italy have been allies since the time of Ancient Rome,” reads the tweet. “The translator’s reaction is priceless.”
The accompanying image comprises two screenshots from footage of the moment. In the first, the translator looks at Trump himself with a mix of total incomprehension and concern (for the state of his mental health and/or that of the country, probably). In the second, she’s then looking around the room, with her eyes clearly saying “Did everyone else just hear him say that?”
Translator Lady has now become the most relatable person to meet Trump since all those Parisians who avoided sitting next to him at Notre Dame.
But, alright, as funny as this is, we know we shouldn’t blindly believe everything we read on the internet — especially if it’s sourced from Elon Musk-era Twitter. When it comes to dumb things Dump has said, they tend to be correct, though, and that is indeed the case here. The reason you haven’t heard about this recently is because this incident happened during his first term, in 2019.
Trump’s bizarre comment came during a press conference held in Washington with Italian president Sergio Mattarella. When talking up the international relationship between their two countries, the then-45th president announced, “The United States and Italy are bound together by a shared cultural and political heritage dating back thousands of years to Ancient Rome.”
So, just in case we’re in any doubt, no, the U.S. and Italy have not been pals for “thousands of years” as Trump claimed. Ancient Rome fell in 476 AD and the United States will reach its 250th anniversary in 2026. Even Christopher Columbus didn’t set foot on American soil until 1492. As for when the two nations officially recognized each other, the United States Department of State notes that “the U.S. established diplomatic relations with Italy in 1861 following the unification of most of the peninsula into one state and re-established relations in 1944.”
The next time President Mattarella comes to visit sometime over the next four years, Translator Lady better be back to give us another iconic reaction when Trump inevitably says something else stupid. Please, it’s these moments that will keep us going until 2028.